


Tricked the Machine

by seimaisin



Category: Dragon Age
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Steampunk, Community: trope_bingo, Gen, Steampunk
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-07
Updated: 2013-01-07
Packaged: 2017-11-24 02:08:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,891
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/629135
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/seimaisin/pseuds/seimaisin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>She’s heard people around camp express their displeasure about the machines - “too much like the darkspawn” is the most common complaint. “How are we to fight the monsters,” one of the soldiers asked her, “if we become them?”</i>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	Tricked the Machine

**Author's Note:**

> A steampunk AU, written for the trope_bingo community on Dreamwidth. Title is taken from a song by Abney Park.

On their way to Ostagar, their carriage is attacked by a trio of darkspawn. It’s the first time Lilah has seen the creatures up close - ugly things that may have been human once, long ago, but are now covered in machinery and what Duncan warns her is poisonous bile. “Don’t let them touch any exposed skin,” he tells her as she unsheathes her daggers. “Exposure can be deadly.”

She does as instructed, though it’s difficult when your weapons of choice are close-range. Lilah has always been quick on her feet, though, and she dances away when one of the darkspawn reaches for her. It’s hard to find a soft spot on the thing, what with all the metal and gears criss-crossing its body, but as she turns, she sees an exposed patch in its side. She buries one of her daggers in the skin, and when it falls to its knees, she rests her glove-covered hand on its shoulder and uses the other knife to slit its throat. 

When she turns around, she sees one other darkspawn body lying on the ground a few feet away. Duncan has his arm around the last creature’s neck, squeezing hard enough that shards of metal pop off from the armor plating across the thing’s jaw. His hands, Lilah notes, are covered in the black bile. Then, she sees Duncan’s blade protrude from the darkspawn’s chest, and it falls to the ground. “What happened to not touching them?” she asks.

Duncan uses his discarded coat to wipe some of the black bile from his hands and shirt. “Wardens have different rules.”

“How so?”

“You’ll find out.” He bends to inspect the darkspawn, gesturing at Lilah. “Get my valise from the carriage.”

Lilah does as she’s told. When she returns, Duncan takes a set of tools from the bag and begins disassembling the gears around the creature’s hand. “What are you doing?” she asks.

“This one has a weapon I’ve not seen before. I’m taking it with us to study.”

It doesn’t explain why he also takes parts from the two other darkspawn, but he ignores further questions. “Come on,” he says, after placing the last of the parts in his bag. “We’re needed at Ostagar. We can’t run late.”

He refuses to explain anything in the carriage. “There are things we need to do first. After your Joining, I’ll explain everything.”

He doesn’t tell Lilah what the Joining is, either. But she doesn’t really expect him to. 

*

Ostagar is an old, ruined castle in the middle of nowhere. The army is camped all around, but Duncan leads Lilah past everyone into the crumbling building. Inside, he abandons her in the care of another Warden. “I have things to prepare,” he tells the younger Warden, rattling his valise. “Show the Lady Cousland around.”

The Warden’s name is Alistair, and Lilah is forced to wave off his deep bow. “Lilah, please. I’m not much of a lady any more, I fear.”

“But Cousland is an old noble family, correct? At least, that’s what I remember from my Chantry schooling. I fear I wasn’t a very good student, so I could be wrong.”

“No, you’re right,” Lilah says quietly. “But my family is gone, and I have nothing left to be the lady of.”

The castle in Highever is no longer home. Her brain still hasn’t quite grasped the idea. Rendon Howe’s face floats across her mind; she reaches inside her coat and grasps the hilt of one of her daggers. She sees it plunge into his chest every night, every time she closes her eyes. It’s the only way she’s been able to sleep, since. 

Lilah brushes off Alistair’s condolences. She doesn’t need pity. She needs the means to make Howe pay. 

*

When the time arrives, Lilah is led into the basement of the castle. Duncan introduces the man who greets them as a Circle mage - one of the people responsible for the mechanical wonders that will assist the army in their coming battle. She’s heard people around camp express their displeasure about the machines - “too much like the darkspawn” is the most common complaint. “How are we to fight the monsters,” one of the soldiers asked her, “if we become them?”

The mage putters around the small room. It’s filled with tools and loose gears and vials of unidentifiable liquids; there is a gurney in the middle of the room, which is where Duncan leads her. “This is it,” he tells her, gesturing for her to lay down. “Your last chance to say no. If you survive this, you will be a Grey Warden for life.”

Lilah, still standing, blinks. “ _If_ I survive?”

“I told you once, a Warden’s life is never certain. It’s true from the very beginning.”

“So, you saved me from Howe’s men only to possibly kill me yourself?”

“I saved you because we need you. I wouldn’t have brought you here if I didn’t think you were strong enough to endure.”

She looks beyond Duncan, to watch the mage lay a scalpel on a metal tray. “What are you going to do to me?”

“We’re going to put you to sleep. When you wake up, I’ll be able to tell you. You must trust me.” Duncan puts a hand on her shoulder. “I will tell you, though, before you begin - neither Daveth nor Jory survived the procedure.”

“What happened?”

“They weren’t strong enough.”

“But you thought they were.” _As you think I am_ , she adds silently.

“You’ll be strong enough. I have faith.” 

Lilah considers backing out. She could do it - she could walk out of the room right now, tell Duncan she’s changed her mind, leave the castle and ask one of the army officers to help her find her brother. But she owes Duncan her life, and if his mystery takes that life from her … well, she’s no worse off than she was in Highever, and perhaps she’ll see her family again. If she survives, she might be in a better position to exact her revenge. A young woman, alone and without family, has very little chance of getting near one of the country’s most powerful nobles. As a Grey Warden, though...

It doesn’t matter, anyway. She was dead the moment she saw her nephew lying in a pool of his own blood. All that’s left is a shadow, a ghost. All that’s left is revenge. 

Lilah lays on the gurney. “Do your worst,” she says.

“You’re sure?” Duncan asks.

“Yes.”

“You accept the risks - and the Warden’s burden? It’s important that you say it,” he adds, “because there is no going back.”

“I accept the risks, and the burden. I will become a Grey Warden.”

She leans back until her head rests on the thin pillow. The mage comes over and places a mask over her mouth and nose. “Breathe deeply,” he instructs her. “You’ll be asleep in no time.”

Lilah takes a deep breath; as she does, she hears Duncan’s voice somewhere above her head. “Join us, brothers and sisters,” he says, “Join us in the shadows where we stand vigilant.” It sounds as if he’s reading from a book. 

She hears him continue, “Join us as we carry the duty that cannot be forsworn...” And then she hears nothing at all.

*

The first thing Lilah notices when she wakes is the tingling in her arm. She tries to move it, but it’s immobilized. “Wha-” she groans, opening her eyes.

Duncan and Alistair are leaning over her. “You’re awake,” Alistair says, a smile spreading across his face.

“How do you feel?” Duncan asks.

“My hand …”

“Don’t move it yet, it’s going to be a little sensitive.”

As Duncan speaks, the pain starts to radiate up Lilah’s arm. She tries to use her free hand to push to a sitting position. Alistair is kind enough to help her, supporting her back with his arm until she can rest against several pillows. She looks down at her arm -

\- and has to swallow a scream. “It’s …”

“Darkspawn machinery,” Duncan confirms. He pushes up his right sleeve; his bicep is covered entirely in brass and gears. “You asked how I could touch the darkspawn without danger of infection. This is how.”

“The mages are able to graft some of the technology to our bodies,” Alistair says. “If we survive, the procedure makes us immune to their poison.”

“And it gives us better weapons with which to fight them.” Duncan presses a small button on his bicep, and several tiny, deadly-looking blades pop out of his metal-covered arm. “We are uniquely suited to fighting the darkspawn.”

Lilah is silent for a long moment. Finally, she nods to herself. “What did you give me?” she asks.

Duncan carefully undoes the restraint on her arm, and slides his hand underneath her wrist, which is now covered in spidery veins of brass. The brass continues up her thumb; there is a tiny button and gear on the heel of her hand. “You’ll have to wear gloves in public,” Alistair says. Lilah nods, barely hearing him.

When Duncan turns her hand over, she sees that the brass veins all lead to a coin-sized disc embedded in the outside of her wrist. Duncan holds her hand up and presses the button at the bottom of her palm. Suddenly, the disc rises, and a tiny cylinder pops up from underneath her skin. Lilah yelps in pain. “Sorry,” Duncan says. “It’s going to hurt for a little while.”

He presses the button again, and a small tube appears on the front of the cylinder. “What is it?” she asks.

“It’s a pistol, of sorts. One of the darkspawn we fought had it - it shot tiny, sharp pellets that embedded themselves in my skin. It hurt like hell. We don’t have any of the pellets it used,” he continues, “but the mages are working on some alternatives for you.”

Lilah turns her wrist over and presses the button; the cylinder descends back into her skin, causing another wave of pain to shoot up to her shoulder. “This is permanent,” she says, not really asking a question.

“It’s part of being a Grey Warden. You understand the secrecy,” Duncan says. “If we told anyone what we do, everyone would think us monsters.”

“Aren’t we?” she murmurs, running a finger along the brass veins on her wrist. Gingerly, she straightens her arm and points her wrist outward, as if she were shooting the little pistol. She closes her eyes. There, on the back of her eyelids, she sees Rendon Howe standing before her. Her tiny gun shoots pellets into his eyes, and he howls, scratching at his face while her pellets embed into his skin, causing him unimaginable pain. 

Lilah’s eyes open. She looks from Duncan to Alistair and back again. They look concerned - do they think she’ll reject the implants, throw a tantrum, insist they be removed? Even if she wanted to, what good would it do? It’s not like she has much of a choice in the matter. 

The image of Howe doubled over in pain still lingers in her mind. She clears her throat and gives the two men a small smile. “Right then. What happens next?”

If she must be a monster to defeat the monsters, she’s willing. So long as she gets a chance at the right monster.


End file.
